


Kodachrome

by Chimera428



Series: SuperCat Week 4 Fall 2019 Two Sides to Every Coin [5]
Category: Supercat - Fandom, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Before and After, Canon Related, CatCo Worldwide Media, F/F, First Impressions, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Cat Grant/Kara Danvers, Secret Past, So Far We're Fluffy, SuperCat Week 4 Days 5-6, Supercat Week, Supercat Week 4, first day of work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-11-23 07:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20888399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimera428/pseuds/Chimera428
Summary: Kara's first day at CatCo brings an envelope filled with secrets from her past that carries over in unexpected ways into her present.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> SuperCat Week 4/5 - Before | After
> 
> Weeeee

Kara sat at her new desk, taking a deep breath as she arranged the items on top of it for the umpteenth time. She drew in a deep breath looking around the office before anyone arrived. She hadn't been able to sleep the night before and thanked Rao she didn't need it. 

She caught the sound of the elevator ahead of her, instead of the one she'd been expecting behind her. Brow furrowing as a younger man pushed into the floor with the mail cart. 

He stopped just in front of Kara's desk offering her a warm smile. Already there were bets as to how long little miss sunshine would last. He just hoped his was the winning one. He knew she was different the week prior when HR had seen her around the building so she could have some kind of memory before the whirlwind of being Cat Grant's latest assistant caught up to her. 

There was something about this one, although Jason thought that about all of the ones that had come before. Even if the only one he had been right about sticking it out was Leslie. Granted it wasn't as Cat's assistant but she was still employed by the company. Even if it was at three am on CatCo Radio. 

"Kara right?"

Kara smiled, standing up to offer a hand. "You would be right, and you're Jason."

"Nice to actually meet you instead just in passing." He shook her hand, taking note of the firm grip and equally strong handshake before rummaging through his cart. "I've got Miss Grant's mail, they told you about it right?"

"Open it first, arrange from most important to least on her desk and weed out the useless drabble I think were the words used."

"And they said you'd be slow to catch up." Jason teased while Kara looked confused.

"They? Who's they?"

"The proverbial _ they _ that reside all throughout the building. You'll learn to ignore them but be aware just in case the boss lady brings it up. Woman knows everything, and what she doesn't she finds out who does, and that is you, Kara. So be ready."

Kara smirked at him, scanning over her boss's mail with a glance down from underneath her glasses before beginning to shuffle the stack about in her hands. 

"Thanks… I think."

"No word of a lie, you've got the top spot here despite what people say about it. And you're an outsider _ and _you've only written for a collegiate newspaper. I'm not saying watch your back but watch your back."

Kara looked up at him abruptly, nearly dropping the mail in her hands. "How did... you…"

"Top spot... word travels fast, this is a news organization after all. Right now you're the biggest news this place has had in a while." He rifled through the cart once more offering her a large manilla envelope. One end thick enough to almost busy the seams. "See, even the outside world knows you’re here. First official day and you've already got mail."

Kara took the envelope, looking at it cautiously for a moment until Jason leaned closer. 

"Last assistant got a glitter bomb, but only after her first month. Miss Grant was furious, fair warning."

Kara nodded, sliding a drawer open before dropping the envelope inside for later. "Thanks."

"No problem," Jason smirked moving his cart around. "Head up, ears open, do whatever she says no matter what and you'll be fine."

Kara watched him weave about the office, dropping off the mail where designated. She glanced back down at the drawer before closing it firmly with her thigh. The morning complement of people were already beginning to trickle in, most of them barely giving her a glance as they settled into their mornings. With a deep breath, she moved from her desk into Miss Grant's office, propping the doors open as requested before setting about organizing Cat's mail again. 

Her cell phone buzzed within her back pocket, a text from Noonan's confirming her new boss's regular order was being started glaring up at her. She glanced at the clock, knowing she'd have to be faster than humanly possible to make it back before Miss Grant stepped out of her car.

*******

Ten hours later, Kara practically collapsed in her seat once the private elevator doors shut Miss Grant in behind them. Her mind questioning how any human being could keep up with the woman. Much less predict her moods, balance her schedule and its menagerie of changes almost on the hour. Be immediately on hand for her every whim and play pied piper to the numerous amounts of requests and demands from other people, from the security desk on the first floor to the White House, clamoring to get even thirty seconds with the Queen of All Media. 

Kara was exhausted just going back over her day even with her powers. She sat forward slowly, finalizing Tuesday's schedule along with the other alterations for the week before closing her laptop. 

“Rao bless it,” she uttered, pulling open her drawer for her things as her fingers curled around the manilla envelope from this morning.

Kara turned the item over, seeing a P.O. box as a return address. When she had scanned it earlier with her x-ray vision there hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary and figured it was safe enough. She took the time to thumb the envelope open, a smaller envelope sliding out onto her desk, relieving the larger of its bulk before she peeked inside.

Her chest seized and her eyes widened at what stared back at her before she grabbed the smaller envelope and shoved both into her bag, hastily making her way to the elevators. 

There was no way she was opening anything else while still at CatCo.


	2. Chapter 2

Cat swirled her scotch beside her, the gentle breeze of the night air cooling her skin as she finalized a few more layouts for tomorrow. With a slap of the drafts on the nearby table she pulled her legs up onto the lounger, looking up to the stars as she took a sip of her drink.

All in all her day had been… good. For lack of a better word, it wasn’t great but they rarely were anymore. Not counting the weekends when her time was fully utilized by her son.

She leaned back, getting all the more comfortable as she ran over her day once more. Her mouth quirking at the constant influx of her latest assistant. Kara Danvers. Nothing in her background check had raised any flags, nor the more thorough one Cat had performed on her own.

She was as normal and boring as she had touted herself to be, except for the exceptional way with which she had handled Cat and everything the CEO had thrown at her. She hadn’t been lying when she asked for devotion during their interview, and Kara didn’t disappoint. Which was another point in Cat’s favor and a massive fuck you towards the board and many others at CatCo who had given her insurmountable grief with hiring someone the likes of Kara Danvers.

She had no tenure, no publications beyond a collegiate drabble of a paper, no real experience in this world or the world as a whole for that matter. Cat had researched Midvale as much as she had her assistant. Citing nothing out of the ordinary or troubling beyond a few unexplained events and the murder of a young boy that Kara had helped root out when she was far too young to have done so.

That must have been part of the reason Cat had stamped her first impression on Kara’s resume, single sheet and all with the word “reporter”. It was an instinctual thing and Cat was rarely, if ever, wrong when it came to her instincts. Not that she wasn’t wrong, mostly when she ignored those instincts. Three of her four ex-husbands had solidified that much.

Still, there was something more to the sunshine and easy disposition of her newest assistant. A familiarity Cat felt deep in her bones but couldn’t cite a reference. It had been in the back of her mind ever since she met the woman. Gnawing away at the investigative part of herself that she had yet to truly lose sight of.

As she sat there, she lingered on Kara’s features in her mind’s eye. There was nothing extraordinary about her by all accounts but Cat knew better than to judge a book by its cover. Kara came with that and a foreword, glowing reviews from her three past employers and a table of contents that read like stereo instructions.

There was something there though. Substance, hidden behind those dark glasses and those pale blue eyes that struck Cat almost speechless. Something like that didn’t just exist; it was built, manifested from tragedy or something similar and molded into a kind of self-assured righteousness. It was almost heroic and most assuredly striking, pulling at curiosities and what ifs effortlessly with no context.

Cat hummed to herself, finishing her drink, unable to put the thoughts away. She knew the two of them had met somewhere before but given Kara’s history it was near impossible for Cat to pinpoint with any accuracy. She chewed on her bottom lip in idle thought, wondering if she should pursue it or simply let it play out on its own.

*******

Kara rushed into her apartment, scrambling with her bag as she checked her phone for any addendum to Cat’s day tomorrow before closing herself away in her room.

She stripped off her jacket, emptying her bag onto the bed where the two envelopes from earlier glared up at her. She licked her lips cautiously, again drawing the smaller envelope up first before opening it up once more. She thumbed through the contents, negatives and master SD cards held inside before pulling the larger bulk of a third envelope free.

Her name was scrawled across the front in script she easily recognized, swallowing thickly as she sat down and opened it up. She pulled the first piece of paper out, scanning over the words written out to her.

“_Zorel,_

_It’s been a while. I know I owed you this much after everything. You were one of the greats, it’s good to see you’ve landed on your own two feet and what a landing. Be fearless._

_Yours,_  
_Veronica Moore_

_P.S. Along with what’s owed to you, however overdue, I have also enclosed all your masters; it was the least I could do and included a few keepsakes for yourself. The world may never know what it’s missing._”

Kara widened the third envelope, fingers edging through check after check before Kara set it down on the bed beside her. She reached for the larger envelope then, turning it up by one end to allow its contents to spill out. High resolution, glossy photo prints spilled out across her bed.

Kara carefully nudged them further apart, staring at the woman she barely recognized looking back at her. Alex had sworn she had taken care of it, even if Kara hadn’t asked her to. She had enjoyed that part of her life, would probably still be doing it if she hadn’t taken that nanny job before Noonan’s. She had thought it was a good career choice at the time. A way in to her real pursuits as a journalist, even despite the wry looks or comments from others around her then. 

It amazed her how different she looked in the few years between the time those photos were taken and now. Her hair was much darker, like her mother’s, although the progression of color was lighter in later shots. The last one dated just over a year now.

It had been wonderful to become someone and something else. To be seen in that way. Alex had argued plenty of times how dangerous it was, how easy it would be for someone to discover that she wasn’t human. Alex wasn’t entirely wrong, the excuses Kara had made about cutting her hair and other mundane things were easy enough to explain for personal reasons. It had only furthered her reputation. As had her insistence on using a pseudonym.

When Alex saw the money Kara was making, the arguments weren’t as harsh, but Alex still made them just the same. Even Eliza had voiced her concern, especially if her cousin ever needed Kara for something, or worse. It would be hard to mask her identity without some serious thought if she ever became super famous.

Then again, Kara figured, no one would ever believe that someone like her, with all the capabilities of Superman, could ever be a model. If she ever decided to put on her own suit of course.

Either way, she had always requested payment in cash, until it was too much to handle, which was when Alex stepped in. Utilizing her resources at the FBI to create a sort-of pseudo-identity that could be used for records and other incidentals while also absolving Kara Danvers of any direct connection.

Kara felt she should have pushed Alex on how she had accomplished that so easily but figured why look a gift horse in the mouth.

Kara reached for one of the photographs, her mind filled with nostalgia from that shoot. Her makeup was ridiculous, as was the outfit, which was more of a leotard and a massive fur wrap. The overall composition was some artistic metaphor of women being powerful creatures, complete with their corresponding animal counterparts. She smirked recalling how the lioness in the shot with her wouldn’t keep still. Wanting nothing more than to nuzzle and paw at Kara.

It had been another reason for her to leave. Especially when the featured shot was Kara with her hands buried in the animals' fur around its ribs, giant paws wrapped around her shoulders. The lionesses head resting on Kara’s own as they both looked straight at the camera. Evoking a kind of wild untamed power, willingly contained.

At least for that candid moment.

It was still talked about by the one or two people she was still in contact with, and a part of her wondered, given who her new boss was, if that wasn’t why she had gotten the job at CatCo.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you [@Argyle_S](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argyle_S/pseuds/Argyle_S) for the 'third' option of Kara's assessment of Cat when my brain got stuck on how to phrase that properly.
> 
> Reminder un-beta'd all mistakes are my own

Weeks turned into months and months into years, a little over two in fact. Kara was well known around the office, her tenure as Cat Grant's assistant now officially the longest.

Kara lived for each morning and the way Cat stepped off the elevator, already commanding the room before she even arrived. It was an impressive skill. One Kara had wanted to master, even more than her own position allowed.

Kara commanded her own by extension, but it was just that. An extension of Cat. Granted she seemed far more welcomed than the alternative, even if half the time she was relaying less than uplifting information from her boss to the woman's latest target. Either way, it was still something to achieve for herself.

She answered Winn, carrying on their conversation despite her inner thoughts and breakdowns, thankful she could quite literally carry out more than two things at once.

As Winn continued on about dating compatibility, her ears pricked to the staccato crack of Cat's heels on marble. Stilettos, Louboutins most likely, which meant one of three things; Cat was on a tear and Kara would be running some kind of damage control all day. Two, she had a date, personal or professional, it didn't matter, just that whichever it was had made itself available and Cat was going in for the kill, or three; Cat was feeling the kind of tension that came around monthly, and made Kara hope that it was of the personal variety, because that always made the next few days more pleasant… until they weren't.

Kara narrowed her eyes, running through dates and times at a glance realizing almost too late that it had to be option three. Which meant Cat could go either way. Primed and preening, her outfit for the day worn like plumage to attract a mate or just half the building’s eye. Disposition rather temperate, intertwined with a more vampish lilt to her comments, good or bad.

Or, keyed up and abrasive, her choice of attire intent on striking a primal kind of apprehension skin to fight, flight or freeze. With a proclivity towards dressing someone down with nothing but a sharp look and the unforgiving bite of her wit for nothing more than simply breathing too loud.

Whichever way it went, Kara knew her day was going to be a rough one. Her mind conjuring up any number of scenarios where she would have to fend for herself. Be it some brazen comment praising her own attire, that seemed to be coming with more frequency lately Kara noted, or some fretful observation of how Kara needed to give her cardigan back to Mister Rogers.

“It's just like you're gonna know when it hits you, Kara. It'll be all “Wah-pow”. Winn made a gesture with his hands staring at Kara as she seemed to be off in her own little world.

Barely hearing Winn, Kara recalled that particular comment from Cat about her sweater. It had been hard enough not to laugh then when Cat had said it a few weeks ago. The memory forcing a slight rise to her mouth in the start of a smile just as she announced that Cat was there.

“How do y’do that?” Winn said under his breath as he rushed up from his chair, turning towards the elevator.

The entire office floor seemed to come to a standstill as the doors open, and Cat was revealed to them, the split color of her dress clearly reflecting her mood as Kara altered the timbre of her voice from mildly upbeat to flat so as not to draw undue attention.

“Good Morning Miss Grant.” And with Kara's affect, everyone in the office was made aware that it would be a kind of gird your loins experience from now until the end of the day.

“The only reason I bought this building was because it had a private elevator,” Cat breezed through the throng of employees while Kara moved to the opening at the other side of her desk to meet Cat right at her door. “That way I don't have to get soaked in cheap cologne every morning getting to my office.”

Kara bent down, her hand sliding up along Cat’s forearm as she relieved the woman of her coat and she followed after her.

“Find out who used it, have them reprimanded... or bathed, I don't care which-”

“Here's your latte,” Kara interrupted as she tipped her head, eyes running over Cat’s frame until she realized too late the woman had slowed and turned in the same instant. “Hot.”

The two of them came to a stop, the dark tint of Cat’s sunglasses doing nothing to hide the slow drag of Cat’s eyes over Kara’s frame, at least as far as Kara was concerned.

“Oh…” Cat breathed as Kara looked up and blinked at the realization Cat had caught her looking before the woman turning abruptly, “that'll be new and different.”

***

Kara strained to listen as her date requested the check and their servers number before the sudden news break caught her attention, driving away her mediocre disappointment instantly.

"Did they say Geneva?!"

Cat stood abruptly from her lounger, her scotch forgotten with the first explosion overhead. The second lighting up the sky and the plane careening out of control.

"Oh my God…" Cat couldn't help herself as the high pitched scream of the engines roared overhead and the plane pitched sharply. Her phone was at her ear instantly, orders shouted to the person on the other end until she caught the fleeting blur of movement across the sky.

Flames and smoke did little to aid her until one of the engines broke free and crashed into the object… or person as it were.

Fire rained down over the city, the dull hum of voices lifting up across the city at the display. Cat rushed to the end of her balcony, straining against the edge as her eyes widened. Memories of a similar incident years ago flooded her mind, when the world first encountered Superman.

The white body of the plane and the building flames illuminated the figure now as whomever it was tried to right the wing before breaking off and opting to fly upside down along the belly of it. Cat looked ahead, trying to track the trajectory of the plane as National City Bridge loomed too close to avoid.

"And call the coast guard or something that thing is going in the water."

Cat ran from her balcony back inside, tv on, as she grabbed her desk phone.

"Tell whatever crew you've got not to break away, there's someone underneath that plane and I want to know who." Cat watched the footage from multiple outlets, including her own as the plane turned and pitched, threading through the suspension wires of the bridge like a needle.

_That_ certainly wasn't Superman but it was definitely someone. 

The plane skidded along the water, turning roughly before coming to a stop as Cat lowered her phone, stepping closer to the television. Every picture changed to the same view, focused on the plane bobbing about until a black swath appeared on the wing. 

Cat could barely breathe as she watched someone, _some woman_ climb onto the wing dressed all in black and obscured by the jet wash sending water everywhere.

Her heart clenched in her chest as the figure took off, her attention turning towards her balcony again as Cat rushed back out onto it, scouring the skies until she caught that unmistakable blur coming closer as rush of air rocketed past her. 


	4. Chapter 4

Kara’s life had been a whirlwind over the past few months. From donning the cape to dodging Cat’s inquisition, Live Wire, taking down a quarter of the board, losing her powers, saving Carter from Lord’s schemes, and discovering her Aunt and a plethora of other Kryptonians were still alive _and _everything else required of her as Cat’s assistant. It was a wonder she was even still sane, much less that she had made the choices she had concerning her reason for coming to the roof now.

She saw herself hovering above, feeling oddly out of place before Supergirl shifted to that of her, and other boss and apparent Martian as he landed solidly on the roof.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” J’onn put his hands on his hips, giving a small shake of his head “But, you know, I wouldn’t have minded you coming to the DEO full time.”

Kara gave a heavy sigh wrapped in a knowing smile was heaved his way. Given everything, were this earlier in her day, she would have relished the opportunity.

“I can’t leave this place. It’s not just a secret identity to me.” She drew in a deeper breath looking him over. “I almost did something today that I would’ve regretted the rest of my life.”

Hank frowned with a level of incredulity, pinning her with a look. “What stopped you?”

“My friends.” Kara said without hesitation, keeping the ‘_and Cat’_ part to herself. “The DEO keeps you human. They do that for me.”

J’onn nodded, looking her over another minute more. “You all right from here?”

Kara nodded, giving him a smile. “Better than I thought I would be, thanks to you.”

“Don’t mention it. Will we see you back at-“

Kara gave a small shake of her head. “There’s something else I need to do.”

J’onn nodded as the two said their goodbyes before J’onn took off into the night sky.

An hour or so later Kara stepped into an elevator and punched in the code for the penthouse floor. Her heart was racing as the elevator climbed higher, she could have done this another way but then that would be too easy. Kara knew deep down, her little ruse would fade and Cat would see right through the human facade Kara maintained as her assistant. Although hopefully, that would come under a better set of circumstances.

The more she thought about Cat’s behavior, with her flippant and dismissive methods, Kara realized Cat was trying to reconcile why someone like Supergirl would ever seek out the mundane day to day as Kara had. When Cat was threatening to leave because of Adam, she had wanted Kara to go with her. Even when it came to her younger son Carter, Cat had only trusted her.

Even now, Kara realized, part of Cat’s insistence at pushing all her buttons with the continued use of Supergirl when ending anyone on one interaction with her hadn’t been out of some kind of spite, or smug superiority knowing she had commanded Supergirl to do her daily bidding for over two years; it was out of fear.

And plenty of other sentiments that with enough time to think, Kara realized would be hard on anyone to accept. If Cat had wanted to out her, she could have at any given second. Even Lois Lane had fired a gun point-blank at her cousin to prove his identity according to James; it had been loaded with blanks but still.

Cat, metaphorically speaking. could have done the same given her position in the world. Instead, she had saved those little jabs and pokes for when she and Kara were alone. When no one else would hear or question who Cat had just claimed Kara to be. Pushing and shoving at Kara with the intent on making her leave. Which she had.

Well, almost.

Kara had quit, and Cat had let her. It wasn’t until Kara had replayed it all back in her mind that she realized how hard Cat’s heart had been beating. How controlled her breathing had been despite her ‘_meh_’ of a response. Even her little additive of finishing out the rest of the day was spoken with an edge of something Kara couldn’t quite pinpoint. She only knew it wasn’t as a means of willing acceptance towards Kara’s resignation, it was reluctant, forced. The lesser of two evils in a way.

Kara was pulled back into the now with the chime of the elevator and the opening of the doors. With a hard swallow she stepped across the marbled foyer, the inner door held open by the woman who had occupied her thoughts off and on all day.

“What’re you doing here?” Cat’s tone was softer than it should have been. Not quite tired but certainly not the indignant hellfire that it would have been at the office.

Kara adjusted her glasses, stepping forward boldly, forcing Cat out of her way as she stepped further inside her home.

“Yes please, it’s half past midnight, do come in Kiera.”

Kara smirked, hearing the bite of Cat’s tone even if her heart wasn’t in it. “Was I interrupting something?”

Cat eyed Kara’s back, gaze narrowing slightly as the woman drifted further into her home, then again Cat didn’t exactly stop her either. “Come here to gloat?”

“Not exactly,” Kara tested the boundaries Cat had set out, casually working her way into the larger great room. She saw an empty glass on the bar, any chance of waking Carter was gone, as Kara didn’t see any other body in the penthouse through the walls.

Cat followed easily, watching Kara as she moved to the left before taking a seat on the arm of a plush chair. “I know it’s Friday, technically the weekend now, what could possibly be so important it couldn’t wait until…”

Cat straightened, realization dawning. She looked Kara over again, a smirk pulling at her lips, how bold, maybe Kara was finally coming into her own. “What’m I signing?”

Kara turned with that, confusion etching her brow as she looked at Cat, who was focused on the large envelope in her hands. Kara looked down at it as Cat held out a hand with a slight wiggle of her fingers.

“I have to say, when I offered you your job back I didn’t expect it to really hit you until much later on. Nice to see you have some initiative, especially when going after what you want.”

“I… wasn’t?”

“Oh Kiera, don’t play coy with me. The same night as your little stunt with James and Supergirl? Proving me wrong, forcing my hand with your job? Complete with a new negotiation of your salary or other incentives afforded your position I see.” Cat looked beyond impressed. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“It... well, I…” Kara wasn’t sure how to answer, what Cat was suggesting probably should have been something she thought of and was now worried about disappointing her. It wasn’t as if Kara needed a raise or additional incentives. Her backlog of residuals had aided in that. Before Kara could say anything more Cat was suddenly in front of her, having snatched the envelope from Kara’s fingers as she passed.

“Cat-”

“This calls for a drink,” Cat threw over her shoulder, pulling another glass from her bar and the decanter she had uncapped before the elevator had been announced. The little pinhole camera providing her an oddly welcomed surprise when she saw that it was Kara. Who hadn’t called, nor asked permission to even come up; she just had.

“I’ll just have water-“

“Nonsense, you should have at least one. Celebrate your victories, Kara.” Cat passed her a half full glass as she walked across the room headed for her home office. Kara stood where she was for only a second before following.

“Cat, really it... it isn’t-“

Cat had already drawn out a pen from a dark wooden case, the cap spiraling across her desk as she plucked the envelope open and slid the contents out.

“What you think…” Kara stood stick still as Cat’s eyes scanned over the object in front of her. The pen poised in her fingers lowering. Cat set her glass down absently, fingers trapping the plastic sheeting Kara had seen fit to put it in.

“Where did you get this?” Cat whispered, eyes scanning over the image as it wavered in her grasp before her eyes cut up sharply. She knew the image well, or at least the proof of it. It had been one of the photos she had wanted when she had rebranded CatCo about five years prior.

Her copy wasn’t nearly as clear, it had just been a shoddy print out on cheap paper. Bold letters spelling out SAMPLE obscuring the face of the model. By the time Cat had decided, built an entire campaign around it, the photo was no longer available nor was the model.

For months she scoured her contacts and connections and gotten nowhere with it. Coming up empty-handed beyond the agency having been acquired by a larger company and the model no longer available. Their records and acquired assets a mess with no real regard for keeping them. With her development team and the rest of the board breathing down her neck, Cat had reluctantly gone with her second best option. Always knowing it wasn’t the best choice, her first choice, but it would be enough to live with until it wasn’t.

The image had evoked everything Cat wanted at the time and then some. She had sworn it was photoshopped until the art department told her otherwise. The shoot was apparently legendary and details just as elusive and otherworldly as the wild creature caputed in it; the lioness was a nice touch as well.

This image was in perfect, print-ready condition. Cat could request a billboard scaled reprint be made with it and not lose a single detail and for a half-second actually considered it right there.

“Kara.”

Kara straightened with her real name falling from Cat’s lips, and no argument to be had. Cat set the photo down before edging around her desk intent on invading Kara’s space.

“Where-“

“It’s mine.” Kara breathed, watching Cat waver back from her.

“Not possible.”

Kara swallowed thickly, licking her lips as her heart hammered in her chest. “I have the masters-“

“You could have bought-“

“I used to be Zorel.”

That name Cat had heard. It was the only other thing she had gleaned from her crusade but everywhere she looked, even going so far as to ask Wintour for that favor and nothing. As far as anyone knew, the model didn’t exist and if she did, her connections went far beyond Cat’s capabilities.

Cat sized her up, walking around Kara with a slow prowl of movement, searching over her body, her hair, her face before landing on her eyes. The truth reflected back at her hitting like a sucker punch to the chest.

“I… I thought you knew when you first hired me.”

“It’s not on your resume…”

Kara fixed Cat with a look, given the length that she had gone to prove she was Supergirl, Kara figured Cat had found something from when she was-

“It was contract work.”

“Still a job.”

Kara drew in a deep breath, stepping back, her eyes lowering a bit. “I didn’t mean to upset you, I thought…-“

“What Kiera?”

So they were back to that again.

“What did you think?”

“I know so much about you, especially after that idiot and his hack… after everything, all the trust you put in me, even with…”

“Spit it out.”

“Maybe I wanted to trust you like that too.”


	5. Chapter 5

Kara sat at her desk quiet and lost in thought. The weekend had passed by achingly slow after she left Cat's penthouse. Not a single text or adjustment to her schedule sent, which had only thrown Kara off more when eleven thirty rolled around and Cat still hadn't shown. 

James texted her an hour after, stating Cat had relayed to him that she would be gone most of the day. Something about a last minute meeting across town that would keep her out all day. 

Kara had taken off at lunch, opting for duties at the DEO to try and get her mind off things. 

Kara hit the ground with a hard slap of a sound, her suit fanned out beneath her as she stared up at the ceiling tinged with green. 

"Okay now I know you're not trying." Alex said, looking down at her before offering her a hand up. Instead of taking it however Kara just batted it away. Content to stay on the floor. 

"Is this about what happened with Cat?"

Kara's brow crinkled along with her nose. "No."

Alex gave a slow series of nods before turning off the kryptonite lamps and stretching out on the floor beside her sister. Hands out behind her as she held herself up looking over at Kara. 

"You have the crin-kle." Alex partially sang as Kara rolled her eyes. 

"It could be about anyone." Kara argued.

"Yeah well James and Winn have texted me twice already so it's not either of them. Your mid-day patrol and test runs made Hank's day and I just kicked your ass all over the room so… that leaves either someone you're not talking about, and have never talked about, or Cat."

Kara let out a sigh, her arms crossed over her chest as she stayed prone on the floor. "I still managed to screw things up."

"I thought the thing at CatCo with Hank went well."

"Yeah well Cat thinking I was Supergirl might be averted for now," Kara let out a breath of a laugh. "If you thought that was bad, you should've seen her face last night."

Alex looked back over at Kara then, sitting up a little further. "Last night? You told me you went home last night."

"I did." Kara refused to look at her sister. "Then I went back out." 

Alex threw Kara a look. "Kara… look, I know beyond your most recent dive into superheroism, CatCo has been kind of a thing for you." 

Kara turned her gaze towards her sister. 

Alex gave a shrug. "No judgement, but I know a crush when I see one… I just thought-"

Kara sat up on her arms looking over at her sister. "I do not have a crush-"

Alex tried to contain her smile, while the crinkle along Kara features told her all she needed to know. "Okay, okay so crush is a little juvenile, but Kara, c'mon. I'm not blind, and I've been the first one telling you if she was that bad of a boss to suit over your time there, not to mention y'know if she ever found out."

"Which she did and we fixed it."

"Yes, but that doesn't really set aside the other thing."

"Alex I said it's not-"

"A crush, but you are attracted to her, behind her being your boss. You like her, not the Queen of all Media, though I'm sure that doesn't hurt cause damn."

"Alex!"

"See?"

Kara made a frustrated noise, laying back down. Alex gave another smirk before schooling her expression somewhat before laying down beside Kara, their heads barely touching. 

"Did you kiss her or something?"

"Alexandra Hetherington-"

"Really… middle naming me, for shame." 

"No, I didn't kiss her."

"Did she kiss-"

"No!"

"Did you want to kiss her?"

Kara took a breath, almost immediate in her response to say no except- "Maybe…"

Alex turned her head slightly looking at Kara. "How's that worse than finding out you're Supergirl?"

Kara sighed, rubbing her hands over her face. "I gave her a picture."

Alex looked even more confused now. "What, like one of your drawings? Oh Kara, did you draw her and then-"

"No I didn't give her one of my drawings." Kara let out another gruff exhale before letting her hands fall away. "I gave her one of my pictures."

"Oh...Kay?"

"As Zorel."

Alex nearly bonked their heads together. "Wait, what? You didn't."

Kara only nodded. 

"Kara…"

"What? They're mine… and she… I already know so much more about her than anyone else and-"

"Kara-"

"I just, I know the Supergirl thing should have been enough. If I had actually been able to tell her and not her going full investigative reporter on my ass. She had my first grade report card for Rao's sake… who does that?"

"A pulitzer prize winning investigative reporter and what do you mean if you had told her Kara?"

"I… I wanted to tell her, have wanted to… until I knew I couldn't. Knowing or thinking someone knows is one thing but to tell her, especially now. Superman made his enemies, I brought mine with me. My mother's sins… her judgement. There's a line out the door of people wanting to take their own judgement out on me and they're going to try with anyone I'm close to."

"Kara, you can't think-"

"I have to Alex. I don't have the luxury of being the one who gets to make mistakes and tell their friends or carve their own path here. Which… I was okay with and then she just figured it out and I panicked and she just kept on and on about it and-"

"Kara, breathe."

"That's why I gave her that stupid photo with the lion, it's not Supergirl but it's something that couldn't hurt her..."

Alex sat for a long minute, Kara’s words filtering down to her very core. Kara wasn't wrong and her initial journey into pretending to be human wasn't exactly improved with the way Superman chose to deal with it. Or Alex's own means, all things considered. Alex looked over at Kara again, watching the muscles along her jaw work. 

"You have her the lioness picture?" Alex asked quietly, it wasn’t exactly the best thing to say but the slight twitch in Kara's nose told her the topic shift was a welcomed one, to a point. "Kara, you're like practically naked in that one-"

"I am not! I had a leotard on and the big fur thing."

"It was skin tone…"

Kara looked over at Alex pointedly. 

"Naked."

"Oh shut up."

Alex tipped her head a bit still looking at Kara. "So… did she take it wrong or...?"

"Not exactly…" Kara sounded like a child who just got caught doing something they shouldn't. With Kara's lack of further explanation, Alex leaned closer. 

"She wanted it for the faceofCatCowhensherebranded." Kara rushed her next few words earning her a shove from Alex. 

"Come on Kara."

"She'd already seen it… or a sample or something. She wanted it for when she rebranded CatCo a few years ago but you remember Veronica got sold out by her own board and all it was just taken and divied up between those other companies-"

"Wait, so how did you get a copy? You said Veronica destroyed everything as a kind of fuck you."

"Apparently she didn't? I dunno, I didn't ask, don't even know where I would start but she fixed it or something."

"Fixed it? Kara, what the hell?"

"I don't know! I just know the day I started CatCo I got this envelope and it was full of my things. All my masters and proofs and original negatives even camera cards and then there was another envelope and all these checks or at least I thought they were checks, and her letter said something about what was owed-"

"Hold up… checks? What checks?"

"Royalties and back pay."

Alex sat up and turned to face her sister. "Say what?!"

"Geeze Alex, not so loud."

"Kara checks are paper trails."

"I know that."

"So you haven't cashed them."

Kara went silent again. 

"Kara Zor-El."

"Now who's using names?"

"Well?"

"They're bear bonds."

Alex's eyes widened at that. "Wait wait, you mean bearer bonds?"

Kara nodded.

"As in, Hans Gruber bearer bonds, bearer bonds?!"

"Alex!"

"Kara, you're telling me you got all your old modeling stuff and an envelope full of no questions asked just walk right in and we give you the money bearer bonds?"

"How else did you think I was keeping the apartment?"

"I thought Cat paid you a lot." 

"Yeah well, she might not be paying me at all."

"What? Why?"

"Why do you think I'm here Alex? When was the last time I came to the DEO and stayed all day?"

"Oh… oh shit. Did Cat fire you anyway over a picture?"

"No, but she didn't come in today AND I had to hear from James that she was taking a meeting or something and wouldn't be back."

Alex made a face, having given Cat a little more credit than that. "Maybe it was another emergency thing, like the hack or-"

"It's not, she's across town. Art district."

"Oh…" 

"CatCo has a studio out there. Cat only goes twice a year, the Oscar issue and-"

"Christmas. Yes, you've told me."

"And it's September."

Alex was about to say something more when Kara's phone rang. 

"Seriously…" Kara sat up.

"If it's mom tell her I'm busy."

Kara rolled her eyes, reaching into her boot and the hidden pouch she had there for just this purpose. As she looked at the screen she stopped and when it rang again Alex leaned over, seeing Cat's name. When it rang a third time Alex nearly reached over and answered it herself. 

"Are you gonna get that?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super thanks to [@sultrysweet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sultrysweet/pseuds/sultrysweet/works)  
For the best lines in this whole chapter 
> 
> Kara's inner thoughts about Cat for the win.
> 
> Also I thought I had posted this two days ago, not sure what happened there. 
> 
> Again no beta all mistakes are my own.

'_This is it. This is how I’m going to die.'_

Kara thought to herself, stepping out of the cab she had taken onto the sidewalk outside the location Cat had given her. Not as if Kara didn't know it. It was one of their private studios, Cat had saved the building from being torn down, renovated it and then turned it around. When CatCo wasn't using it, it doubled as a creative arts space for underprivileged schools all on Cat's dime. It was part of a new initiative she had implemented a couple of months back after the train incident.

Given the late hour, Kara could see only the uppermost floor was lit, the windows veiled behind heavy curtains. She made her way up easily, the large feet elevator announcing her even before she rolled the wooden cage of a door up and out of the way.

"Didn't expect you to take the elevator," Cat spoke from across the room without looking up, scanning over the shoot from today on a light table. "The skylight opens from the roof you know."

Perhaps she and Hank hadn't been that convincing, Kara thought as she watched Cat move a photo array aside before looking up at her. '_She’s finally going to finish me off tonight. No more threats to fire me. Cat's going to take this much, much further.'_

"Was there something you needed Miss Gr-"

"Cat."

Kara stopped with the request while Cat straightened.

"It's after hours, we’re not in the office. You can call me Cat."

"Oh... okay." Kara swallowed thickly, edging closer after another minute. Cat pulled something from nearby, laying it out purposefully.

"You can come closer, I won't bite you." '_Not that it would leave a mark_.' Cat thought.

"Miss..." Kara corrected herself with Cat's pointed look. "Cat, about last night-"

"I was rude."

Kara's mouth hung open on her next word with Cat's interruption.

"Although you have to give me some credit, after seeing you and Supergirl, then your... thoughtful, albeit ill-timed gift. I was rude, and mean and I apologize."

"I… really didn't intend to-"

"I know, and it wasn't you that I was upset with. Not really."

Cat studied Kara thoughtfully, moving when she felt Kara was close enough. "I was upset because you reminded me that I had a vision once. One I never got to see beyond what was in my own mind, and how I had to settle for less."

Kara watched Cat round the table, looking her over as Cat stood right in front of her. "It's something that I thought I saw in you, which was why I pushed at you so hard."

Kara’s brow flickered with a crinkle of motion, trying to decipher what Cat was spelling out for her. Cat just stood there, looking her over, mapping the contours of her features, the subtle changes that had resulted in the short span of time that Cat had been made aware of the woman to now and beyond it.

Cat had been up all night going over it all in her head, realizing her hubris and mistakes and ultimately a threat to her own safety with regard to the knowledge of Kara being Supergirl.

The little ruse Kara had orchestrated to convince her otherwise was a bold and brazen one, and ultimately as selfless as it was sacrificial. That had been sobering, once she dissected it ,and recalled the little bits and bobs of Lois Lane’s own turmoils that she had experienced with Superman. At least the ones that Lois had written for The Planet anyway, Cat knew deep down there were plenty of others no one ever heard a whisper about.

Cat had far more to lose and wasn’t willing to pay the cost with a younger son still in her direct care. She wasn’t sure if she would ever be willing enough for that, and somewhere, inherently, Kara knew that.

Cat suspected it was one of the reasons Kara hadn't come out with her super-identity outright the more Cat pressed. Opting instead to quit, not for her own sake, but Cat’s and CatCo and any number of other things above herself.

Cat wasn’t sure she could ever make up for that lapse. Driven by her corporate brain impulses and near recklessness towards saving the Tribune, and her own ass from the clear waver of the board in her favor; hindsight was twenty-twenty after all. 

Having been inspired by Kara’s own gesture of extending Cat _some_ modicum of trust, and having enough time to think on it, Kara would accept her own little olive branch here now.

Or so at least Cat hoped. 

Kara shifted where she stood as Cat seemed to retreat into herself, even if Kara was the only one who knew the woman enough to recognize it. She cleared her throat softly, prompting Cat to breathe a little deeper and come back into herself.

Cat stepped aside, gesturing for Kara to move past her towards the light table. Kara did so cautiously, casting a look at Cat who remained impassive at best. Cat watched the other woman with a side glance as she rounded the table her steps slowed to a halt as she looked over the objects in front of her.

It was the old layout format, before CatCo's shift along with an array of sketches and designs that Kara recognized as part of their current scheme. Her fingertips touched the edges of a few drawings, spreading them out further. Her curiosity piqued further when she saw Cat's signature attached to them.

Kara, or at the time _Zorel_, was at the fore of all of it. The first new issue, slated for billboards and ad runs across buses and other advertisements slated for National City and beyond. The shoddy reprint of her proof sketched over by Cat's hand and replicated thereafter with Cat's vision.

Color panels and markups of the new logo along with Cat's original notes, even the pink panther that sat outside Cat's office was there. Although, it was clearly a lioness on Cat's original designs. Kara moved the images around, her heart beating faster as she saw the picture she had given Cat.

It was still in its protective sleeve, front and center beneath Cat's original intention for CatCo's rebranding. It struck her harder than she thought it would, as did the knowledge that despite not having been CatCo's face then, she was now as Supergirl.

Kara swallowed thickly, her body tensing when Cat's hand appeared so very near her own against the table.

"These are beautiful Cat…"

"They're yours."

Kara looked abruptly at the other woman so very near to her now. Her lungs stopping altogether when Cat's fingers brushed across her knuckles with a tentative stroke.

"I… I couldn't they, they're yours and-"

"You inspired them," Cat stated, not looking away as Kara's fingers inches closer. Promoting Cat to repeat her prior action with more weight and intent. "It's only right that you have them."

Kara wavered closer on her next breath, Cat's fingers pressing firmly against her own in response but she didn't back away. Kara glanced lower with the slight parting of Cat's lips before she closed her eyes.

"I can't," Kara whispered, more than half afraid Cat would pull away. She felt another firm stroke of Cat's fingers against her own as the sound of Cat's heart grew louder in Kara's ears.

"You've given me more than I ever asked for Kara." Cat shifted her weight, watching Kara struggle with herself as the woman wavered closer again. "You of all people can genuinely appreciate them given your... talents."

Kara turned her hand, fingers slotting between Cat's expertly before she reaffirmed their connection with a bit of a stretch, claiming Cat's hand in her grip. Cat squeezed back firmly, as Kara's eyes opened to find the other woman just staring at her.

"Thank you, Cat."

"Nothing to thank me for, it's all you."

Kara pulled in a full breath as Cat squared up in front of her, her free hand drawing up slow enough for Kara to stop her at any moment.

"One more thing?"

Kara barely moved, her expression inquisitive as she remained silent, glancing to Cat's hand as it drifted closer. Cat curled her fingers around Kara's collar, watching the cords along Kara's neck flex as her fingertips brushed precariously close to the edge of the suit just beneath.

“Maybe think about wearing an undershirt if you’re going to continue to wear these cheap button ups." Cat let her hand fall, palm smoothing out over the flat of Kara's chest and the undeniable shape just beneath. Kara refused to glance down again, looking right at Cat before forcibly taking a deep breath and pushing her chest against Cat's hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used for professional color photography, especially for images intended for publication in print media. Because of its complex processing requirements, the film was sold process-paid in the United States until 1954 when a legal ruling prohibited this.


End file.
